Naruto, Sakura, And Them
by ChokeBee
Summary: "...they're everywhere. Those... those creatures; living dead people...eating and killing everyone. Konoha is doomed... I heard that so is Suna and Kumo... are you safe? If you're reading this... if you got this message... Naruto, please I need you..." What would happen if entire world suddenly become full of undead, ready to bite zombies? NaruSaku, full summary inside


**Summary: **

"My name is Sakura Haruno, kunoichi from Konoha no Gakure, and I'm sending this message, in hope that there are still survivors out there - survivors that need help and I assure you, that I  
can give you that. I'm sending this message from old Radio Tower, located 12 miles south of Konoha. Konoha is... those things...they're everywhere. Those... those creatures; living dead  
people...ate and killed everyone. Konoha is doomed... I heard that so is Suna and Kumo... are you safe? If you're reading this... if you got this message... Naruto, please I need you... and  
please, do not approach the village. Its not safe there anymore. Just head to the Radio Tower, and fallow instructions that I left here... please... I-kshhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."

******************A/N:** Here it is, rewritten and I hope, good to your likes, so - I hope you'll like it, and leave reviews!

Thanks!

******************Disclaimer: "Naruto" and all respective character's belong to Masashi Kishimoto and Shueisha Inc.!**  


* * *

**Prologue**

It was so hot. The night was so hot.

**'**_I hate deserts,_**'** thought fourteen years old Chuunin.

His name was Shun, and right now he was just looking at the night sky. It was starless, clouded. The same could be said about the boy's emotions – that they were not there, that they vanished, but right now it wasn't the truth. In his entire life the boy did not feel so many emotions at the same time; he felt lost, but also more alive than ever, he felt like a coward, but he knew that it was inevitable in a such circumstances so, he as well felt an obligation.

He felt obligation towards his teammates, because right now, that boy was on a mission and not only was he there with his best friend; but also with his sister. And _also_, right now – he was the strongest person in their team, as their only one and one teacher was just unconsciousness.

"Sensei, oyyy… wake up," heard Shun, and returned to the reality, taking off gaze from the skies.

He looked at his friend; little taller and stupider (as Shun's sister liked to remind every now and then) than him, black-haired boy named Taka who was a Genin.

"He's not going to wake up, is he?" asked Taka, and began to poke their teacher's cheek with a stick.

"He is! Hey! Taka! Stop that!" yelled the third person, nearing them.

Makko – Shun's sister; was just as high as Taka, with short brown hair and the same as her brother black pupils. Makko also was a Genin, but being a kunoichi she decided to took on medical way, and so it could be said that she was the weakest amongst them. Though all of them feared her. Even their teacher.

"But… it's funny," said Taka, not ceasing his actions.

"It's not!" Makko took few more steps towards Taka clenching her fists.

"It is!" The boy continued, but clearly shivered.

"It's not!"

"IT IS!"

"IT'S NOT!"

Meanwhile, Shun, shaking his head with resignation, turned back to the window, but froze to see what was approaching along the sandy lane in the direction of the house made of sandstone in which they were.

Without turning his head, he waved his hand on the others, but those were still busy with their debate.

"IT IS!"

"I'M TELLING YOU THAT—"

"SHUT UP!" Shun yelled finally.

He turned back to them knowing that they were spotted.

Makko quickly let go of Taka, and looked at her brother with an offense.

"What—" she started, but brown-haired quickly interrupted her, pointing at the window and saying:

"They found us. We gotta go." And without wasting any time he walked over to their teacher, who was still lying on the ground with a blissful smile.

He grabbed him by the arm and nodded at Taka, who immediately grabbed the other.

"Have you any idea where should we go now?" asked Genin. "The whole town is full of those nasty shits."

"I don't know… we'll work something out."

"Maybe they wouldn't find us, if certain _**someone**_ wouldn't yell so loud," Makko added yet, helping them to raise the unconscious man.

"_**Someone**_?" repeated Taka with anger. "It was _**you**_ not someone!"

"Ha! Yea, right you—"

"Quiet!" Shun interrupted. "It doesn't matter who was louder, what matter is that they found us!"

Apparently Taka was about to say something, but in the same moment when he opened his mouth, from behind the doors, came out loud: "**Uuunnnhhh…!**"

"Aaah! They're here!"

Makko didn't have to repeat it twice. Shun exactly seen as the door made of four vertical old planks began to bend as if someone on the other side pushed at them. Shun had, as such guesses who could it be.

"Damn…" Chuunin quickly looked around, searching for some kind of escape route. The window was small, too small for such big man like their sensei was, but it still would be possible to squeeze him through. What they needed was time.

"Makko! The window! Grab sensei!" yelled Shun, and without waiting for hers reaction, he dashed to the door and started to push on them.

Makko quickly grabbed their sensei, dragged him to the window, and then she jumped out. After a while, appeared her hand that slowly started to pull the unconscious man out.

"Taka! Help me!"

Taka looked at him stunned, unable to speak for a second before he stuttered: "Oh? Oh right!"

"Makko… we don't have much time!" Shun gasped, feeling as planks under his back are becoming more fragile.

Meanwhile, Makko, while with her left hand she held planted in the wall kunai, with her right she was pulling out their teacher through the small window. In some moment his shoulders jammed in, and without any other choice, Makko grabbed the man's blonde hair and pulled with all her strength. Slowly, inch by inch finally she managed to do the impossible, and now holding the unconsciousness man on her shoulder she yelled: "Quickly!"

"Run, Taka!" Shun shouted inside, almost throwing out his friend towards the window.

When Taka jumped out, Shun let go of the door, and threw himself after his friend, behind him hearing as the wood finally gave up.

Time for Shun suddenly slowed down. He could hear every beat of his heart, he felt as his skin pores open and close, and he could almost see as his pupils enlarge, when he looked over his shoulder to see as to their room enters one of _them_.

If Shun had looked at this thing from behind, then he certainly wouldn't think of it as he was now thinking. Because when he looked at the face; this half being, but not half at the same time face, he knew that he will not forget it until he die.

At the point where a normal person would have one profile combining with the second, ran straight bleeding line starting from the chin and running through the mouth, nose, and then disappearing in the charred creature hairs that might at first seem like a simple wound, but at some point the creature stood, looked at Shun with its jet black eyes, and two profiles began to open at the bleeding line, to the moment when before stunned boy stood a beast, with big vertical mouth with big bleeding triangular fangs inside.

Another thing which Shun will never forget was the roar, which came later.

"**Rhaaaarrrrrrrr!**"

In the next few seconds three things happened at the same time. First, behind the stunned boy came a loud : "Shun, get down!", then the creature, with its open mouth moved forward squealing and roaring, and then Shun felt as knees bend under him, and he becomes unconscious, and the last thing he saw were big triangular tusks.

_**...,,,...,,,...,,,...,,,...,,,...,,,...,,,...,,,...,,,...,,,...,,,...,,,...,,,...**_

It was night. The moon shone brightly over the roof of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, taking away from shadows opportunity to spread, and herding night predators back to their burrows and cracks on the top of the Hokage Rock.

Even though life here, on this mountain, in a night like this one, seemed like something shameful or forbidden – one lone figure appeared to deny that, standing on the edge of the giant monument, looking down at the village.

The figure stood still for some time now giving the feeling as if it were the part of the monument, yet being a living witness of its own experiences that weren't a dream, but reality.

Its face seemed to be just as petrified as the mountain under its feet's – even its lips did not tremble.

At this point, soulless, lost and lonely, almost crazy, but still, observing.

There was only this character, the world beneath it, and the moon in the sky.

Its body was stiff; however, the mind was frenzied not able to comprehend, over and over again scrolling through all things from the beginning to the end, even though it was not sure how it ended on this mountain in the first place.

It even thought that it all could be a lie, but it knew…

It Knows.

Suddenly the whole world stopped, there was no fire, there was no screams, and death fell asleep.

Time ceased to be visible; its flow had no meaning.

It only felt the rush of air on its face – for fraction of a second it was very light, but then it became stronger and stronger, second by second, finally realizing that she's not running but falling, and then—

_**...,,,...,,,...,,,...,,,...,,,...,,,...,,,...,,,...,,,...,,,...,,,...,,,...,,,...**_

He woke up to see his sister's face.

Her eyes were closed and her face as if has frozen in the expression of profound peace, and beside her steady breathe, she wasn't making any sounds.

He smiled, and raised his hand towards her cheek.

"Shun?" he heard, and his hand stopped halfway, and the boy moved his sight at his friend.

"How long was I unconscious?" asked Chuunin, standing up. He glanced once more at his sister, and then he quickly examined his surroundings.

They were on another of the dozens of roofs of the desert village, and the night went on. The same, hot night. Then he noticed small wooden outhouse next to which lay their teacher.

"Not that long," Taka replied, and gestured to the second end of the roof.

Shun fallowed him and after a while they looked at the same sandy streets, now empty and dead.

"So… what happened?" he asked finally.

Taka just sighed heavily, and patted his friend's shoulder. "Don't worry about it Shun. What's important is that you've survived. And it was close I tell you. Damn close."

Shun agreed with a quick nod, looking over his shoulder. "How's he?"

Taka also looked in that direction, and seeing blonde hairs, he shrugged.

"He looks fine, but he's still not waking up…"

"Damn... if only I'd notice that bomb…" Shun gazed at his shoes.

"How? Even sensei reacted in last second."

"Yes but… still…"

"Be happy to be alive, nii-san!" came out behind them.

They both turned as if on command, and although they knew that it was Makko, both shivered.

"Ane… I'm sorry," Shun walked up to her and allowed her fist to punch him. "It was my fault, I shouldn't had…"

"Ah, stop with this hero stuff already!" Makko quickly interrupted him, taking on angry grimace. "Sensei saved us, so you _will_ be thankful."

"Y-yes, nee-chan," answered on one breath Chuunin, this time backing off a bit.

Next to him appeared Taka, who whispered to his ear: "Yo… your sister is a demon, you know that?"

But his comment was not unnoticed by Makko, who smiled and rubbing her fists asked: "You said something Takkun?"

"A-ahahaha, no…nothing!" Taka also backed off a bit, raising his hands in defense.

"Oh, Taka, better wish it was, or you know…" Makko wagged.

"Y… you know, Makko," Taka was paler than usual, "to scare your friends like that."

"Okay, okay, hush now," said Shun, who again stood on the roofs edge, looking at the sandy roads. "There they are again," he pointed at something.

The other two appeared beside him, and fallowed after his finger, finding lonely form standing on small crossing. It looked straight at them, moving its mouth, as though saying something.

"Damn… I thought we lost them," Makko murmured, leaning forward for a better look.

"Maybe they can smell us," Shun noted, pointing on the other side of the street, on which towards their building walked at least dozen creatures.

"Dude… I still don't get it… normal people would stop… I threw kunai right into the heart of the other one!" Taka moved back from the edge, waving his arms helplessly.

Makko also turned around, and seeing Shun's puzzled gaze she said: "he's not lying, I saw it."

"Wait a sec… you mean that… those things… what…" Chuunin started, but Taka interrupted him.

"…what are those things? Are they even alive?"

Shun nodded, but then again he stared at the street.

"Maybe… maybe it's all just a bad dream?" he muttered silently, shocked.

The first creature finally reached their building, and with a loud slap bounced off of the walls below, and as if answering to Shun's silent question, it looked up, or more like – it raised its head, because instead of eyeballs from the eyeholes hung their bloody remnants.

"**Ghuuuu?**" it yet growled, and began to palpate invisible obstacle.

The boy gulped loudly, and almost pulled himself away from the edge.

He quickly rubbed his forehead, took a few deep breaths and counted to ten.

'_Easy Shun, easy. Remember what sensei was always saying,_**'** he thought frantically.

'_I love ramen, and… eehehe, but I won't tell you that! Heheh…_**'**

'_No, not this one! Uuh…_**'**

But before he managed to remember sensei's wisdom, he heard Taka's voice.

"Makko, how's it back there?"

Shun stood up seeing as Makko leans at the back of the roof.

"Huuuh… they surrounded the building," she stated after a while.

The trio met after the moment at the wooden outbuilding, next to their sleeping teacher.

"So… what now?" Taka asked, sitting down.

"I don't know…" Shun also sat, pointing and the blonde. „We need to wait till he wakes up."

Taka also looked in that direction, and pointed at the man's vest – once green and gray, was now black from soot.

"Damn, this doesn't look good…" he shown big burnt hole on his chest.

"It's just his uniform, you idiot… sensei wouldn't get killed so easily," Makko pointed out, and in the end she also sat.

"Yea, yea and still… he sleeps," Taka endeavored to sarcasm but in his voice could be felt anxiety.

Shun also felt it. Of course he felt anxiety. In this kind of a situation he could only recall one person, who would be able to remain calm, or think calmly, and even though that this person was right here on this roof, he was unconscious which further worried young nins.

Alone their movements betrayed their fear: Taka helplessly tousled his hairs, probably trying to control his nerves; and Shun… Shun thought frantically; he was trying to think off some kind of a plan, while his eyes stared emptily somewhere ahead, and even though he thought so hard, his mind again and again went back to the things that lurked below them, to all new horrors and unknown threats, which had to be taken into consideration before he could get to any devising of the plan. The problem was that this time he had no information, and such information's probably couldn't be found anywhere.

They were in a completely new situation, so Shun had to look at things from a whole new spectrum, however, that leaded him to continuous loop, telling him that **'**_it's impossible, not like that, no, differently, why, how much time, how?,_**'** and before every answer created for every question raised a wall full of traps with many layers.

And that's when he was in his trance, when he missed the moment when his friend got up to take another round around the roof.

Though, he heard his voice. "Shun… look at this."

The boy looked away from nameless star, stood up, and walked up to his friend, who was again leaning over the side walls that were running around the roof.

"What is it Ta—gods..!" brown-haired whispered, when he saw at what the finger was pointing.

Except at least two dozens of creatures scratching the walls of their building, on the sandy lane walked a real beast. It was a dog, or at least it once _was_, because now, dog was the last thing that this thing resembled.

The thing that immediately cast in eyes, were two heads, but one of them was not dog's, but the human's, with scalped head and half-eaten face. Dog's head at that moment was opened into four parts, and, like the creature from the house where they hid earlier, each part had a great triangular teeth, red and sharp. The only thing that said that it was once a dog was the residue of fur on its back, but the rest of the body was almost transparent, blood-red; with big blue veins running along under the skin, and large black paws cling to the body with black as soot claws. But what terrified the most was the fact that the creature seemed to be saying something.

"**Easy. No… huuuuuuuu… hurt. I won't… huuuuuurt. No. No. Noooo-uuuuuuu!**"

And that's when he felt that his shoulder exploded with pain.

"S-Shun? W-what is that? What is it? Ani! What is that?!"

The boy quickly turned away, grabbed his sister in his arms, and tried to pull her away from the edge.

"Shhh.. it's alright, don't look."

But he couldn't protect her from Taka's fear.

"Oh, no, no, no… where… what is happening?! What are those things?!"

"Taka… Taka!"

"Gods! Where are this dude arms?! And why this one is still walking?!" In his voice could be heard increasing madness, which in turn resulted in bouts of cry from Makko, altogether creating noise, which undoubtedly was already heard by the whole desert.

"Taka! Shut up!" Shun yelled, but in vain.

"It's impossible! Half of his body is missing! And this… that… that… AAAAA!" Taka grabbed his head and began to tear out hairs.

"Taka! You're scaring Makko! Please!"

Taka stopped screaming, and for a moment more he tousled his hair, but at least he calmed, breathing heavily.

He looked at Shun and Makko, who sobbed into his vest.

"I… I… damn, fuck..! I'm sorry, Ma-chan!" He walked up to them, and put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry.."

The roof again fell silent, but noises from below grew stronger – the chimera's howls changed into thick growling and barking, while scratching changed into dull sounds of fists punching the walls.

"It's okay.." Makko said at least. "Can we go now?"

Shun nodded, seeing that the girl calmed down, and on his face returned determination – as if this brief moment of weakness allowed them to threw away the fear to cheat courage.

"Yes, we have to. Taka, help me with him," he pointed at the blonde.

"O-okey," the boy unwillingly removed his hand from Makko's shoulder, and followed Shun.

They stood before the unconscious man, looked at each other significantly, but grabbed him under the arms lifting awkwardly.

"Uuh, and up we go!" Taka exclaimed in a stage whisper.

When man's left arm was slung on the Shun's shoulder, and right on Taka's, they both walked up to Makko.

"So? Ready?" Shun looked at his friend and sister, but she disappeared somewhere.

"Makko?"

They turned around in a moment when the girl rose from the ground, holding something in her hand.

"It flew out of his pocket," she said, returning to them.

"What's that?"

Girl pulled towards their faces a small square picture of their teacher, a man in a mask and a woman with pink hair. They stood embracing each other in front of Hokage Headquarters, smiling happily.

"Well… we all know that he loves her," Taka pointed out, smiling unintentionally.

"Yea…" Shun nodded as happily. "…I mean – quickly! Stick close, nee-chan!"

Saying this, he nodded at Taka, who simultaneously with him ran to the edge of the building, and then together jumped onto side wall and then leaped onto the next building. After a while they heard Makko's voice.

"Right behind you!"

Leap, flight, landing, running and another leap, flight, landing, running and again leap, and all of that above the streets, filled with for some unknown reason changed into beasts humans, who from some another unknown reason had only one aim: to eat alive encountered non-beasts. Of course in the whole city, undoubtedly, the only non-beasts were the four of them.

'_The last desert people,_**'** Shun thought with irony, remembering well known saying of Gaara from the Sand, Kazekage of the Wind: **'**_I'll protect everyone in my country, even, if they'll be the last people in the desert._**'**

He quickly shook his head, for he knew that he shouldn't be blaming anyone in a moment like that, and even if, especially not Gaara from the Sand. Damn.

"…huh…" uttered brown haired, as if snatching himself out of thinking.

He threw away every other thought, but left just one: about his and his companion's survival.

Now only these things mattered.

When the street underneath them seemed less _crowded_, Shun spotted another roof suitable to hide, and pointing at it, he muttered: "…there…"

Taka just nodded, and with a hope that it's their last jump, they ran, leaped, flew and landed.

"…ok…" Makko whispered landing behind them.

"…stay with him…" Shun whispered to her, and shown Taka the other side of the roof, while he walked to another wooden outhouse.

By and behind it no one and _nothing_ lurked, however what worried Shun the most was the wooden structure itself. While the door looked solid – made of metal, the whole rest seemed to be made of old stinking rotten wood, which, when he touched it, sighed miserably.

'_We'll need to find another hiding then, huh,_**'** he thought, quickly rejecting optimism.

He came back to Makko, who checked on teacher's pulse, - Taka still examined the streets around, and then he also walked up to them and sat down.

"…okay…" started in a whisper black haired. "So, we wait here..?"

"…for now, yes… but quietly."

Makko moved closer to them, apparently satisfied with the blonde's state. "…nii-san… do you've any idea about… what could be those things..?" she asked.

"…I think that I might have a theory…" he replied, frowning.

"…theory?"

"…I once heard about something."

Taka and Makko exchanged looks, and then gazed them at the Chuunin, significantly urging him.

"…sensei once told me, that during the Forth Great War there was this guy… he knew this Jutsu, with which he could resurrect people—"

"Bullshit!" Taka interrupted suddenly.

Makko placed finger on his mouth, and shook her head firmly.

"Sorry…" he muttered, when she took it off.

"…anyway," Shun continued. "Sensei told me, that this guy summoned powerful shinobis, and ordered them to fight… He saw, when, how and what everyone and each of them was doing, and if he didn't like it, he took control himself over them… dude, he had a total control over them..! But in the end he was defeated by this Uchiha dude, and the Jutsu stopped."

"THIS Uchiha?" Makko and Taka said simultaneously.

"…yeah. I wonder what happened to him… sensei never told me….." Shun again frowned, searching for some kind of reference in his mind, which would allow him to place this detail in place, but he couldn't find anything.

"Ani…" Makko urged him.

"Oh, yes, sorry. So – sensei told me how it looked like – I mean, how those resurrected looked like. But it's nothing like those down there," he pointed at the edge of the roof.

Taka glanced in that direction, frowning. "So?" he asked, looking at Shun again. "What does this have to do with your theory?"

"So… those _monsters_ can't be under the influence of the same Jutsu… those resurrected people LOOKED exactly the same, as when they were alive… but you saw those back there… it's… _those_ looked more like _zombies_… they don't even look like sensei described them."

"…_Zombie_?" Makko repeated surprised. "What are _zombies_?"

"I was just getting to it," said Shun. "Ino-sensei once told us that people can be under the influence of hypnotizing technique, and do things, that normal people can't…" at this point the boy smiled, as if he just hit the spot. "And at that, they don't feel any pain, which would match to how those look like."

"Of course beside the fact, that some of them don't even have legs…" Taka added. "Dude, I saw a guy with skin ripped off of his face, and… dammit, I'm sorry Ma-chan… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"

Makko just shrugged, but her face turned into slight greenish color.

"…uh, so – those people aren't the same people that Ino-sensei spoke of, unless, they're under the influence of both hypnosis and resurrection Jutsu at the same time." Shun finished, nodding.

"…this doesn't make sense," Taka said after a while.

"What do you mean?"

Boy moved to the Chuunin and shown him his open hand. "What do you see?"

"…hand?"

"…yes, this is my hand, there is five fingers, everything is just right, everything is rational. I control them, and I know when and how to move every one of them," he said, and as if to confirm the obvious, he bend every one of the five fingers of his right hand, and then he continued. "But, if we add second hand…" he stretched his left hand, and began to bend corresponding fingers one by one. "Then it's getting a little bit harder. Let's add one more hand—"

"What? Humans have just two," Makko interrupted.

"That's what I'm saying. Humans have just two, but, as Shun said, this resurrection technique can add one more, or even two," Taka explained. "Anyway, every of those hands have five fingers each, so, every hand we would need to learn how to control every one of them, and lets add to it this hypnosis technique, and each hand have ten fingers now."

"Why ten?"

"One technique have five fingers, but two, used at the same time, is like controlling another five fingers, but on one hand, and we still want more—"

"You want to said, that…" Shun quickly stopped him. "There wouldn't be a man, who could control that many fingers at a time? And each finger would be one of those creatures, yes..?"

"Exactly," Taka nodded gravely. "Of course, fingers are easy, but alive, or… undead?- beings—"

Suddenly he again stopped, and looked at the unconscious. Shun and Makko also did, clearly seeing as they teacher is saying something.

"…mmmmh…" came out of his mouth.

"Sensei!" Unintentionally yelled the trio.

They quickly dashed to his side, and Makko again checked his pulse, but after a while she just shook her head.

"Nothing?" Taka inquired.

"The same pulse as ten minutes ago – he's still as asleep as rock…" she replied sadly.

"Dammit!" almost yelled Genin.

"Taka…! Shhh!"

"Yea, yea…."

They again sat comfortably, but this time around the blonde, feeling that they need to be by his side, if he'd woke up.

"…anyway," Taka started, returning to whisper. "We need to get out of this village."

"How? We're out in a SHITHOLE, somewhere on the freaking desert," Makko snorted. "Desert Oasis, pfff…. Oasis like hell…"

Taka looked at her depressed. "But still—"

"Dude, Fire is like three days away from here," Shun interrupted, "and our food is almost finished, and—"

"—and maybe… maybe it's not just here," Makko added a little more loudly, making a face, as if she just thought about something terrifying.

"…what's on your mind ane?"

"…think about it," she replied in quivering voice. She looked at the sensei, and then at her hands. "Isn't it weird, that suddenly people began to kill each other?"

"…w-what are you talking about? Of course it is..!" Taka moved closer to her, trying to look at her face, but she suddenly sat straight, saying:

"I think that… that it was not any technique that did this," she said gravely.

Shun also looked closer not understanding, and Taka granted to dread, and now he just listened with his mouth tightly squeezed.

"This is mercantile village. There's a lot of people from every corner of this country, but also from Wave, Fire and Cloud, and there's no way, that it suddenly came from the water," she looked around, and then pointed at the sky, or rather – on the wind, which in this moment began to scoot a little harder.

"Wait…" Shun raised his hand as if he wanted to stop her from doing something, but at the same time – he wanted to know the answer. "You mean that… you think that.. that it's—"

He stopped, and also gazed into the _wind_. The trio just looked at something, that they couldn't see, but they could feel, and they knew that it was there when they breathed it.

Taka made a loud whistle when he let the air out of his lungs, as if digesting Makko's thought, but finally he again filled them, and on the next breathe he said:

"It's a virus."

No one even nodded, the whole trio just looked at their invisible enemy, or ally, not knowing how to think of it – can they start panicking yet, or maybe do they need to hide?

"But it doesn't mean that it's this," Makko said at least, on which Shun eagerly nodded.

"You mentioned, that this is a mercantile village, right?" he recalled, feeling as if through his body spread out bands of relief and understanding. "So… so, it has to be something gentler, something—"

"Gentle? Dude, how ANY OF THIS can be gentle?" almost yelled Taka, but no one silenced him.

"I mean the virus," Chuunin quickly explained. "Since we're still… alive, then maybe that means, that the virus isn't spread by air."

"So… wait, you want to say that… that one bite, one scratch from those shits, and… and that's it?" Taka's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Yes, but…" he again looked at the _air_. "It's better than that."

"So… one of the merchants, or… _someone_ had this stuff, bite someone, and… and we have hell? Here is hell, there's hell, the world turned into hell… hell.. hell… hell, HELL LIKE HERE?!" he yelled finally.

Shun could only nod, though this truth was still far from himself.

Taka stood up, and began to walk in circles on the roof, again tousling his hairs. Makko after a while also stood up, and ran up to him, but Shun turned away – he looked at the man.

It was noon when the bomb exploded. In the noon yesterday, as he found out, when without any fatigue noted as the time on his watch changes from three to four.

He didn't even know what this bomb could be. Did it contain the virus? Or maybe it saved their lives? Is it that, that it exploded, allowing them to hide on the building roofs just in time, before the first riots broke out? After that, explosions were heard throughout the afternoon, and the last screams calmed down in the evening, and they couldn't do anything, couldn't help anyone, everyone eaten alive, dying in front of them.

Shun again looked at the sky. It was almost crimson. Nights on the deserts are long. Especially on this desert, on this night.

'_Bloody dance under the crimson desert,_**'** he thought with laugh.

Suddenly another problem had struck him.

'_Humans are weak. They need to sleep,_**'** laughed a voice in his head.

It's true, they need to sleep, and the only reason that they still weren't was that the adrenaline was still fresh in their veins, and fear of the monsters that could lurk in the every dark corner was even fresher.

However, every human needs to sleep. They also. No matter how many military pills they would eat, eventually they would need to rest or else – in the end they would die.

The real irony here would be to die in circumstances like those, from the lack of sleep, instead lack of head.

Suddenly something shook him.

"What?" ran out of his mouth, when his eyes were focusing on the face before him.

It was Taka, but the panic from his face was gone.

"We need to go Shun," he said, helping him stand.

He pointed at the outhouse, which door shook slightly, and after a moment came out loud: "_**Gooaogoaaahaaraaaa!**__"_

"Dammit!" Chuunin shouted.

He needed to remember to end with this his going into trans. Some day he could die because of it.

Again along with Taka they raised the unconscious man, and then not saying anything more, they neared the roof's edge, and along with the next roar, and this time metal thud behind them, they ran and jumped.

The streets were again filled with corpses.

"Don't look at them. Think about them as of rocks," Taka said at some point, more to himself than to his friends.

Shun looked at him over blonde's head, and realized that Taka's face wasn't showing fear anymore. On the contrary - he was determined. Then he looked behind, and saw Makko, who was gazing at Genin's backs, not looking down – ignoring everything below them.

'_Maybe I am the one who's the biggest coward,_**'** Shun thought after another leap.

For next some ten minutes, the trio was looking out for some hideout – some another roof, on which they could again hide.

'_But why?_**'** Laughed something in Chuunin's head. **'**_You'll be forced to run again, to fight for your life again._**'**

But before he was able to plunge into the dark thoughts again, before them appeared Makko, pointing at something and yelling: "There!"

Shun and Taka immediately saw the thing she was talking about.

"Nice!" Taka rasped, and they followed her.

Shun also wanted to shout, but his voice was taken away by another wave of relief that struck his body.

Some hundred yards before them, rising over the roofs of surrounding buildings, protruded high tower, which itself seemed to cry out: **'**_Here!_**'**

The building stood on the top of four naked pillars, and leading to it spiral staircase gave the trio some kind of faith. As if the tower was a warrior opposing all enemies, lonely but bravely.

When they were under it, its _aura_ penetrated them further, and for a minute they just stood there and admired.

"We need to check it out," said Shun at least.

"Yeah," Taka nodded.

Makko said nothing - she just jumped onto stone staircase, and ran up. After a while came a silent creaking, and then they saw her smiled face leaning over to them.

"Clear!" She yelled happily.

At the bottom, two friends dashed quickly to the stairs, and one holding their teacher by his legs and the other by his arms, they started to climb up.

When they reached the top, they found that stairs end with big rectangular hole, and when they entered it, the hole turned to be a trapdoor, which gave them even greater relief.

"Over here," Makko whispered, leading them to little couch, on which they lay the unconscious man.

"Haah, well, that was fun," Taka exclaimed.

"How could any of this be _fun_?" Makko asked, but smiled.

"I mean… you know what I meant, dammit!" Taka made a face.

Meanwhile, Shun was looking around. With the trapdoor closed, inside reigned almost grave darkness, but the boy quickly found something that even more lifted his spirits. The windows had wooden shutters, and compared to those of the house where they hid before, these windows were of normal size, not just some drilled shapeless holes in sandstone.

The boy quickly opened them, and morning light stormed inside brightly illuminating the interior.

"Holy motherfucker," Shun heard next to him.

He looked at Taka, but just nodded in agreement, knowing what his friend had in mind.

Over the city hung gray mass of smoke that floated lazily into the sky, but every now and then once again it descended, causing that it looked like waves, and the Sun, which has already started to lean out over the horizon looked like it has been covered by a sheet.

The town itself looked like after the war. Big craters after the explosions were visible everywhere they looked, and smoke escaping of these only added to that in the air. Once the yellow and vibrant town was now gray and scary, and seen on almost every street creatures made that the word_ dead_ took on a new meaning.

"Fuck meee," Taka whispered.

"Taka!" Makko slapped his head.

"Sorry! Just… look at the village! Those things are everywhere!"

Makko didn't replied, just sighed, and turned back from the windows.

Shun did the same, and again started to look around.

Interior of the tower proved to be quite extensive, and it seemed that someone had lived in it.

The central part, which is the room where they were, seemed to be a living room with couch on which they previously put teacher, a table and five chairs in disarray facing the wall and the door, which Shun noticed at the end.

"Hey," he muttered on the others, pointing at them.

"You think that there could be _something _inside?" Makko whispered, when along with Taka they stood beside Chuunin.

Shun looked at them with a kind of a look that said **'**_we need to find out, right?_**'** and with firmness he walked up to them, grabbed the handle, pushed it and pulled. The door gave way.

Slightly creaking, the door revealed another little room but smaller. Three nins sighed with relief when it turned out that it's as empty as the rest of the tower, and when they went inside, they found a small sink, a wardrobe and a bed.

"I name you Hokage," said Taka with utmost respect, and he quickly lay on it.

"We'll sleep in pairs," Shun stated, walking up to the sink. "One person on the watch, and the other rest," he reached to the taps, and turned them, but as he expected, the sink gave no response.

Makko opened the wardrobe, and started to rummage in it, and Taka crawled under the bed with a hope of finding some treasures, but when he crawled out, nothing but a dust hung from his hair.

"Guys, I found something!" Makko gasped suddenly, or more like the clothes that she was covered in right now gasped.

The two walked over to her, and survived quite a shock when she leaned out of the closet, with a large box full of canned food.

"Oh, wow, I love you even more now, Ma-chan," Taka muttered, taking one of the cans, and watching it closely.

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing. You think that it's edible? Look… there's rust everywhere," he pointed to the lid, on which edges red soot was visible.

Makko buried in the box for a moment and finally pulled just as rusty can opener, which she suggested to Taka. "Let's find out?"

He grabbed it with uncertain face and put it to the can. There was a sound of breaking metal and to their nostrils reached wonderful aroma of meat.

"Hmmm..." Taka moved opened can under his nose, sniffed, and then pulled out a kunai, cut off a piece of meat, and as if by force stuffed it into his mouth.

He chewed a moment, then took another piece, and then another and another until the can was empty.

"Everything's fine," he said, seeing the amazement on the faces of his friends. "Ehem .. You can eat. "

Shun exchanged a look with Makko, but after a while they ate from their cans.

It was the first time since the outbreak, when the three of them felt safe. Along with food, and secure shelter, they could finally rest, and when the three of them put together back on the bed, they also felt deep bliss, and immediately drowsiness embraced them.

Shun was the first to recall that this was not the end.

"Someone need to stand on watch," he said loudly, and the atmosphere changed.

"Go, I'll cuddle Makko," said sleepily Taka.

"Takkun, sweetheart, you're first," Makko stated.

"Ooooh, whyyy, Ma-chan?" he moaned.

"Because I say so!"

"Well then fuck you! Or you know what? Fuck me!" he laughed loudly.

"Pervert! Get the hell away from me!"

"Shut up! Taka go on watch, I'll take after you. Makko… just sleep," Shun growled.

Taka sat up, stretched and stood up, but before he walked out of the room, he turned yet, and looked at his friends.

"You know…" he started, but changed his mind, and shook his head.

Shun sat, and looked at his friend, so did Makko.

"What?"

Taka turned away, but leaving the room he said: "I'm happy, that we're alive. That we're here together, alive," and he left.

Siblings looked for a moment at the door, where the boy disappeared, and then again they put down.

"Ani…" Makko whispered after a while. "What do you think will happen?"

Shun looked at her, trying to put on some kind of happy face, but it didn't work. "I… don't know, ane."

With those words, both of them moved into their own thoughts, and after a moment Shun heard only his sister's steady breathe.

A while he pondered her question, and the upcoming future, but he couldn't find any answers, and he soon fell asleep, this time alone, without needing any help in the style of an angry beast with big teeth, or a bomb.

Taka sat on the top of the tower, and looked at the misty Oasis Village. Again he gazed over it - all craters, destroyed houses, the streets filled with the dead, and then he hid his head between his knees and sobbed quietly.

For a minute, he cried, and then stood up, patted his cheeks and said:

"I will never again ask for B ranked mission."

* * *

******************Disclaimer: "Naruto" and all respective character's belong to Masashi Kishimoto and Shueisha Inc.!**


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